The 2016 AFC Cup knockout stage was played from 24 May to 5 November 2016.[1] A total of 16 teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2016 AFC Cup.[2]
The winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage qualified for the knockout stage. Both West Zone and East Zone had eight qualified teams.
| Zone | Group | Winners | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Zone (Groups A–D) |
A |  Al-Ahed
|
 Al-Wehdat
|
| B |  Naft Al-Wasat
|
Al-Faisaly
| |
| C | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
|
 Al-Wahda
| |
| D |  Al-Muharraq
|
Al-Jaish
| |
| East Zone (Groups E–H) |
E |  Ceres
|
 Tampines Rovers
|
| F |  Kitchee
|
Kaya
| |
| G |  Mohun Bagan
|
South China
| |
| H |  Johor Darul Ta'zim
|
Bengaluru FC
|
In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split between the two zones until the final. In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, while in the round of 16 and final, each tie was played as a single match. The away goals rule (for two-legged ties), extra time (away goals would not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 12.4).[2]
Starting from this season, the knockout stage was split between the two zones until the final, similar to the AFC Champions League (Regulations Article 12.3).[2]
The schedule of each round was as follows.[1]
| Round | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|
| Round of 16 | 24–25 May 2016 | |
| Quarter-finals | 13–14 September 2016 | 20–21 September 2016 |
| Semi-finals | 27–28 September 2016 | 18–19 October 2016 |
| Final | 5 November 2016 | |
The bracket of the knockout stage was determined as follows:
| Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||||||
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
| 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Al-Wehdat
| 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
| 1 | 4 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| Al-Jaish
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Naft Al-Wasat
| 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Al-Jaish
| 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
| 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| West Zone | |||||||||||||||||||
| Al-Ahed
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| Al-Ahed
| 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Al-Wahda
| 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Al-Ahed
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| Al-Muharraq
| 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| Al-Muharraq
| 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Al-Faisaly
| 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
| 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Bengaluru FC
| 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ceres
| 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| South China (a.e.t.)
| 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| South China
| 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| Johor Darul Ta'zim
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| Johor Darul Ta'zim
| 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Kaya
| 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Johor Darul Ta'zim
| 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| East Zone | |||||||||||||||||||
| Bengaluru FC
| 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| Kitchee
| 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Bengaluru FC
| 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Bengaluru FC
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Tampines Rovers
| 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| Mohun Bagan
| 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tampines Rovers (a.e.t.)
| 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group from the same zone, with the group winners hosting the match.[3]
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|
| West Zone | ||
| Al-Ahed
|
4–0 | Al-Wahda
|
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
|
2–1 | Al-Wehdat
|
| Naft Al-Wasat
|
0–1 | Al-Jaish
|
| Al-Muharraq
|
1–0 | Al-Faisaly
|
| East Zone | ||
| Ceres
|
0–1 (a.e.t.) | South China
|
| Mohun Bagan
|
1–2 (a.e.t.) | Tampines Rovers
|
| Kitchee
|
2–3 | Bengaluru FC
|
| Johor Darul Ta'zim
|
7–2 | Kaya
|
| Al-Ahed | 4–0 | Al-Wahda |
|---|---|---|
Atwi  12'Al-Hussain 75' (pen.)Dramé 88', 90+3' |
Report |
Attendance: 1,200
Referee: Mohsen Torky (Iran)
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 2–1 | Al-Wehdat |
|---|---|---|
| Abdul-Wahid 15' Ahmad 37' |
Report | Deeb 43' |
Attendance: 2,500
| Naft Al-Wasat | 0–1 | Al-Jaish |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Hamdoko 78' |
Attendance: 50
Referee: Liu Kwok Man (Hong Kong)
| Al-Muharraq | 1–0 | Al-Faisaly |
|---|---|---|
| Kanú 81' |
Report |
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Rowan Arumughan (India)
| Ceres | 0–1 (a.e.t.) | South China |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Carlos 107' |
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Ali Abdulnabi (Bahrain)
| Mohun Bagan | 1–2 (a.e.t.) | Tampines Rovers |
|---|---|---|
| Singh 72' |
Report | Webb 63' Yunos 116' |
Attendance: 282
Referee: Turki Al-Khudhayr (Saudi Arabia)
| Kitchee | 2–3 | Bengaluru FC |
|---|---|---|
| Rufino 7' Tarrés 42' |
Report | Chhetri 31' (pen.), 33' Lalhlimpuia 51' |
Attendance: 2,806
| Johor Darul Ta'zim | 7–2 | Kaya |
|---|---|---|
| Lucero 14', 54', 70' Díaz 23' (pen.)Azamuddin 33', 40'Mahali 69' |
Report | Porteria 53' Ugarte 88' |
Attendance: 17,322
Referee: Fahad Al-Marri (Qatar)
In the quarter-finals, the four teams from the West Zone were drawn into two ties, and the four teams from the East Zone were drawn into the other two ties, with the order of legs also decided by the draw.[4]
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 9 June 2016, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Petaling Jaya Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[5] There was no seeding or country protection, so teams from the same association could be drawn into the same tie.[4]
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Zone | ||||
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
|
5–1 | Al-Jaish
|
1–1 | 4–0 |
| Al-Ahed
|
3–0 | Al-Muharraq
|
1–0 | 2–0 |
| East Zone | ||||
| South China
|
2–3 | Johor Darul Ta'zim
|
1–1 | 1–2 |
| Bengaluru FC
|
1–0 | Tampines Rovers
|
1–0 | 0–0 |
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 1–1 | Al-Jaish |
|---|---|---|
| Ahmad 90+8' |
Report | Al-Ali 60' |
Attendance: 400
Referee: Timur Faizullin (Kyrgyzstan)
| Al-Jaish | 0–4 | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Rasan 50' Radhi 67'Ahmad 80'Mohsin 90+2' |
Attendance: 312
Referee: Liu Kwok Man (Hong Kong)
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya won 5–1 on aggregate.
| Al-Ahed | 1–0 | Al-Muharraq |
|---|---|---|
| Zreik 5' |
Report |
Attendance: 3,200
| Al-Muharraq | 0–2 | Al-Ahed |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Musa 23' Zreik 90+3' |
Attendance: 2,500
Referee: Turki Al-Khudhayr (Saudi Arabia)
Al-Ahed won 3–0 on aggregate.
| South China | 1–1 | Johor Darul Ta'zim |
|---|---|---|
| Komazec 90+3' |
Report | Díaz 22' |
Attendance: 3,938
| Johor Darul Ta'zim | 2–1 | South China |
|---|---|---|
| Lucero 58' Díaz 88' |
Report | Komazec 90+5' |
Attendance: 17,350
Referee: Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan)
Johor Darul Ta'zim won 3–2 on aggregate.
| Bengaluru FC | 1–0 | Tampines Rovers |
|---|---|---|
| Vineeth 7' |
Report |
Attendance: 120[note 3]
Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)
| Tampines Rovers | 0–0 | Bengaluru FC |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Attendance: 1,985
Referee: Kim Dong-jin (South Korea)
Bengaluru FC won 1–0 on aggregate.
In the semi-finals, the two quarter-final winners from the West Zone played each other, and the two quarter-final winners from the East Zone played each other, with the order of legs determined by the quarter-final draw.[4]
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Zone | ||||
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
|
4–3 | Al-Ahed
|
1–1 | 3–2 |
| East Zone | ||||
| Johor Darul Ta'zim
|
2–4 | Bengaluru FC
|
1–1 | 1–3 |
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 1–1 | Al-Ahed |
|---|---|---|
| Midani 24' |
Report | Dakik 62' |
Attendance: 189
Referee: Fahad Al-Marri (Qatar)
| Al-Ahed | 2–3 | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya |
|---|---|---|
| Mansour 14' (pen.) Chaito 36' |
Report | Ahmad 28' Mansour 70' (o.g.)Rasan 76' |
Attendance: 3,700
Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya won 4–3 on aggregate.
| Johor Darul Ta'zim | 1–1 | Bengaluru FC |
|---|---|---|
| Díaz 52' |
Report | Lyngdoh 56' |
Attendance: 18,000
Referee: Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan)
| Bengaluru FC | 3–1 | Johor Darul Ta'zim |
|---|---|---|
| Chhetri 41', 67' Juanan 76' |
Report | Safiq 11' |
Attendance: 21,379
Referee: Ali Abdulnabi (Bahrain)
Bengaluru FC won 4–2 on aggregate.
In the final, the two semi-final winners played each other, with the host team decided by a draw, held after the quarter-final draw.[4]
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
|
1–0 | Bengaluru FC
|
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 1–0 | Bengaluru FC |
|---|---|---|
| Ahmad 70' |
Report |
Attendance: 5,806
Referee: Kim Jong-hyeok (South Korea)
